According to a report from the British newspaper The Times, Land Rover is weighing production of a pickup version of its Defender SUV on American soil, in partnership with Stellantis. It would mark the first tangible result of the North American alliance the two automakers announced earlier this year, a move driven largely by the so-called “chicken tax” that applies to pickups entering the U.S.
The Land Rover-Stellantis agreement is expected to be finalized before year’s end
Building the truck domestically would let Land Rover sidestep the notorious 25 percent tariff on imported pickups
The Defender, currently assembled in Slovakia, already faces a 15 percent duty when it lands in the U.S.
Follow the Money
The logic behind the partnership is easy to follow. Assembling this new model on American soil would let Land Rover dodge the “chicken tax,” a 25 percent tariff that’s been hammering imported pickups for decades. JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) CFO Richard Molyneux said as much outright back in August, acknowledging the company needs to get production on the right side of that tariff wall.
Nothing suggests Land Rover plans to shift manufacturing of its best-selling models over to Stellantis plants, though. This looks more like an entirely new segment play for the British brand, with a vehicle built hand in hand with its new partner.
A Market That’s Becoming a Priority
The U.S. market is growing more important for JLR, especially as sales in China begin to slip. CEO PB Balaji has even hinted that the long-term goal is to grow the American business until it rivals the size of the entire company today.
Plenty of gray areas remain, though. Stellantis builds pickups, sure, but it doesn’t currently produce anything with a unibody structure, and that’s exactly the architecture underpinning the Defender. What engine might power this future model is also anyone’s guess, given that European powertrains carry their own tariff baggage.
Worth noting: this wouldn’t be the brand’s first rodeo here. Back in the 1960s and early ’70s, British Leyland already sold pickup versions of the Series I and Series II in America.
If everyone involved can agree and see the upside, they’ll find a way to make it work.
